In-between
by Imagine69
Summary: Scenes that possibly occurred but were not shown in the episodes.
1. Frankenstein

With Frank outside cleaning up the lightning experiment, it was left to Stella and the four agents to restore their base to its former state. It took over an hour's worth of sweeping, scrubbing and superglue, and, when complete, the agents were permitted to go home. Unfortunately, Stella still had to fill out a stack of paperwork regarding Frank's fiasco from that day.

She sighed, reaching for a pen as she sat down at the desk to fill out the variety of incident forms and risk management assessments.

Somehow, Stella became so absorbed in her work that she didn't even notice the lift doors opening, and a weary Frank approaching from behind her. Later, she would attribute her limited alertness to tiredness.

"I'm sorry about the paperwork." Frank's voice startled her, and her pen scratched a line through her careful description of Aneisha's actions down in the lab.

"Frank!" Stella spun around on her chair to face him. "I didn't realise you'd come back down here. Are you okay?"

The corners of her eyes creased with concern as she observed him. She stood up so that she wasn't straining her neck to talk to him.

Frank seemed confused by the question. "I'm fine..."

"It's not every day that you become a super soldier, then have your humanity restored by Aneisha's mind-reading abilities and Dan's heroic stunt with a lightning cable, _then_ spend hours cleaning up a disastrous lightning experiment," Stella said in one breath. "We don't even know the aftereffects of the super soldier treatment. Are you sure you're okay?"

Frank stepped forward, placing his hands on Stella' shoulders. "Stella, relax, I feel perfectly fine." He paused. "The question is - are you okay? I must have really scared you all today." He laughed humourlessly, picturing himself as a savage monster tearing through the corridors of St Hearts after Dan and Keri.

"Frank, it's not your fault," Stella said earnestly. "I..." She glanced at the floor, unable to look Frank in the eye. All too clearly, she could hear Aneisha's innocent question: 'Frank knows we love him, right?' All too clearly, she could hear her own harsh tone as she mocked him: 'You're right. It's not the time.'

"Stella?" Frank's hands were still resting on Stella's shoulders, concern evident in his eyes. "You didn't finish your sentence. And that's a first for you."

Frank smiled, but Stella didn't. "Frank," she began. "I'm sorry. When you wanted to talk, I'm sorry, I just didn't know what to say. I took it out on you. And then when you fell out of the machine, I just wanted you to wake up, to be all right, and you took so long but then you woke up. And I was so relieved - you have no idea..."

Stella's eyes were glistening as she rambled, and Frank could not help but realise how different she was from the serious and professional chief agent, forever in control of any situation. He must really have scared her today.

Without thinking, Frank released Stella's shoulders and wrapped his arms around her instead, letting her relax into his embrace. He held her as he had never held her for ten years. He held her as he had longed to do so for ten years. He held her as they drank in each other's presence, savouring the fact that they were both alive and well.


	2. The Man Who Drew Tomorrow

The leaders of MI9 had called a meeting regarding the kidnapping of Derren Beige. On the holographic projector, the CCTV of Derren Beige's kidnapping, along with the fruitless chase by Frank and his agents, was being played over and over again. Stella was getting sick of seeing that large cow blocking the way backstage.

"It's like I've always said. They are children, not spies. And look what's happened now!" Horatio Stark's voice was painfully annoying. "They should be dismissed immediately and sent back to school where they belong."

"They _are _at school," Stella reminded him, gritting her teeth in a search for patience that she did not have. "They are based at St. Heart's. And children and spies are not mutually exclusive. It's possible to be both."

However, the other chief agents, albeit unbiased, seemed to agree with him. "Agent Knight, you are completely correct, but the fact remains that they allowed an apparent clairvoyant to be kidnapped right under their noses. And we have no idea who took him. Unless there is an update on that information?"

"With all due respect, sir," Stella replied, choosing her words carefully. She tried not to notice the giant cow appear on the screen for the hundredth time. "They were merely on a surveillance mission."

"But we still do not know the identity of the kidnappers?"

"Unfortunately not, sir," Stella admitted reluctantly. "But I am certain they are working on it now."

Stark took this moment to interject. "You can't be certain of anything with those kids. Children are unpredictable! They - "

"Thank you, Agent Stark," said one of the superiors, obviously annoyed at his fruitless interruptions. However, he still had questions for Stella. "Nevertheless, the situation does bring into question the competencies of these young agents. Is it right to assign them work that could be done by more experienced adult agents?"

Stella bit her lip. This was the question she had been asking herself for some time, unable to put together an appropriate response. "Sir, I cannot protest that they are less experienced than adult agents. But at the same time, their ingenuity and youth are advantages that adult agents do not have. This is apparent in many of their previous successes."

"Very well. However, with regard to letting targets get away, this was not the first incident. Last year, they were in the same room as the Crime Minister and Mastermind, yet both escaped unscathed."

Stella was now thoroughly annoyed, and her palms were becoming sweaty from the pressure of answering these difficult questions. "I myself was there on that occasion, and I can confirm that we barely escaped with our lives. I am sure that there is no doubt that the lives of British citizens are infinitely valuable."

The panel of superiors consulted among themselves, while Stella stared resolutely at the desk. The image of the giant cow blocking her agents was being projected on the screen once more. She had no desire to look at it.

"Very well. We shall place a temporary suspension on Daniel Morgan, Keri Summers, Aneisha Jones and Tom Tupper."

Stark leapt from his seat. "That's ridiculous. They should be dismissed entirely. They have jeopardised - "

"That's enough, Agent Stark. Sit down."

Stella remained silent. A suspension was the best they could have hoped for.

"Now there has been some question over the competency of Agent Frank London."

Enough was enough, Stella decided. She stood up as calmly as possible, and spoke with as much dignity as she could muster. "I have known Frank for over a decade. He is imperfect like any other human but he makes an excellent agent. There is much evidence in his mission records. If you would like me to elaborate, I could go on for hours."

She sat down, ignoring Stark's accusatory mutterings.

Now came the verdict. "Very well, Frank London is suspended along with his team. Chief Agent Knight, I will leave you to inform and carry out the suspension. Meeting dismissed."

As everyone left the meeting room, Stella saw the ridiculous giant cow on the screen once more, though this time her vision was blurred. Frank and the team would be so disappointed. None of it was their fault - it was all a huge amount of bad luck. Swallowing resolutely, Stella left HQ to head towards St Heart's.


	3. The Man Who Drew Tomorrow (II)

"Now go back to school."

Dan, Keri, Aneisha and Tom stormed past Stella, deliberately not looking at her. Frank did the same, pushing past her as he made his way to the lift. The doors closed with a familiar bell ringing out to announce its ascent, and all the while Stella remained at her position, leaning forward on the table. She had been right. The agents weren't at all happy to be suspended.

Stella sighed. She had no idea how long the suspension would last for, or if she would ever had the chance to reinstate them at all. Leaving the children in school and Frank in a caretaker's position was simply a waste of pure talent.

The eerie silence of the base was broken by the notification tone on Stella's phone. She pulled it out of her pocket, expecting another of Stark's accusations that her feelings were affecting her decisions. Stella vaguely wondered how bored Stark must be at HQ to be wasting his time sending pointless texts.

Her heart skipped a beat when she realised the text was not from Stark, but from Frank. Not knowing whether to expect an angry protest or something else, she tapped the screen to open the message.

_Stella - I know how political it can get up at HQ. No doubt Stark's giving you a fair amount of grief. Thanks for sticking up for me and the team. You're an absolute star! - Frank._

Stella smiled. It felt like a foreign movement, the way the muscles on her face contracted to pull up the corners of her mouth. It had been so long since she had so genuinely smiled in happiness. Stella was familiar with smiles of politeness, sarcasm and sympathy, but happiness seemed so...alien.

Her eyes flickered over the message again and again, always pausing on Frank's last sentence. He used to say that to her all the time, calling her his shining star. He liked reflecting on the root words of names, and quickly realised that Stella's name came from the Latin for "star". It had been so long since he had called her that. In fact, Stella couldn't even remember the last time Frank had texted her for anything other than work. She suddenly realised that she missed having conversations outside of the working environment, with Frank, or with anyone else. How had she become so absorbed in the secrets and lies of MI9?

Stella read over the message one last time, committed it to memory, and walked into the lift, her heels clicking on the floor as she went. As the lift doors closed with a familiar pneumatic whistle, she contemplated on how to reply.


	4. The Man Who Drew Tomorrow (III)

Everyone was hugely relieved that the unapproved, technically illegitimate mission had been successful. Derren Beige was safe and the TED locked in time, forever doomed to exist in the span of a month's history between discovery by Beige, and being sent back in time by Tom.

Frank had sent his agents back to school, and they had left happily, making jokes over Tom's crystal ball. The lift doors closed with a hiss, leaving Frank alone in the base with Stella, who had suddenly become very interested in a sleeping Flopsy.

"Are you angry?" Frank asked. After waiting a moment and receiving no reply, he continued. "Because you have every right to be. I broke the suspension. If we hadn't succeeded, chaos would have broken loose at HQ. I should've thought of that."

Stella looked up at him, one hand still stroking Flopsy. "You never follow the rules. I was terrified when I realised you were at work down here in spite of the suspension."

Frank twitched nervously, unsure of what would happen next.

"You never follow the rules," Stella repeated. "But you did the right thing. You always do. That's who you are. I'm not angry at all."

Relaxing a little, Frank reached forward to catch Flopsy. The rabbit had woken up and was hopping away from Stella's hand, dangerously close to the edge of the table.

Once Flopsy had been safely returned to his cage, Frank grabbed a carrot to feed him.

"I got your text."

Frank's nervous expression returned. He looked up, one hand dangling a forgotten carrot in front of Flopsy's nose.

"I never replied, but I'm very grateful. This whole thing made for a nightmare up at HQ." Stella's eyes carried a sadness that Frank had never noticed before. Stark must have been a real idiot.

Flopsy took this moment to seize the carrot from Frank, who had been holding the vegetable so tightly that he was jerked from his standing position. Stella grabbed his hand to steady him as he regained his balanced. With a surge of pleasure, Frank noticed that she was in no hurry to let go, making sure that Frank's sense of balance had been restored to 100% before she withdrew her support.

"I'm sorry. " Frank said, injecting as much meaning into his words as possible. Stella must have sensed it, because her eyes filled with tears, something that seemed to be happening more and more these days. Stella never cried, at least not in front of anyone. Even during the KORPS assault ten years ago, when they lost the whole team, she never even shed half a teardrop at the series of funerals they attended.

They moved simultaneously to wrap their arms around each other, seeking quiet comfort.

When Tom and Aneisha came down to retrieve the crystal ball's wrapping box, they found their superiors asleep on the floor, side by side, leaning against the wall, completely exhausted. Tom collected the gift box and reached for his spy pod camera, but Aneisha grabbed his hand and dragged him to the lift.

"They'll be a time for photos later," Aneisha said as the lift ascended. Tom shrugged, replacing the crystal ball in its box.

"This proved me right," Aneisha continued as they crept out of the caretaker's storeroom, looking both ways to check for observers. "Not everything can be explained by science. Not trust, nor friendship, nor love."

For once, Tom admitted defeat. Aneisha was right on this one.


	5. Revenge is Sweet

The antidote-saturated rain had finally cleared, President Carlotta deposed, and George Monoblot granted a full pardon. Meanwhile, at MI9, all those affected by the Cupodium XXX disaster had recovered and were reinstated.

Frank knocked on the door cautiously, unsure of what to expect. In his free hand he held what looked like one of the offending cupcakes, while balancing a stack of reports under his arm.

"Come in!" Stella called.

Leaning his shoulder against the door, Frank pushed it open and stacked the two dozen reports in Stella's input tray. Stella looked up from her computer, shocked by the huge mound of paperwork that Frank had just brought in.

"Frank..." For once, Chief Agent Knight was lost for words.

"I'm really sorry about this," he said, gesturing at the paperwork. "It's the whole Cartanian disaster. But they just need reading and signing, that's all, I promise. No evaluations."

Pulling up a chair, Frank sat down and passed the cupcake over the desk to Stella, who took it, bewildered.

"It's from the new batch developed by one of the MI9 labs. No cupodium, just sugar. It counters the side-effects of Cupodium XXX," he explained.

Stella gazed at it suspiciously. Indeed, she had been feeling ridiculously exhausted in the past few hours, but due to the endless onslaught of paperwork and liaisons from the Cupodium disaster, had had no time at all to rest.

"You're supposed to eat it," Frank prompted, trying and failing to keep the amusement out of his voice.

After some careful inspection, Stella bit down into the cupcake and fought the urge not to spit it out. It tasted terrible.

"I know it tastes bad," Frank said, noticing her expression of disgust. "Dan and Keri said Stark threw it back at them when they delivered his."

"Stark ate the cupcakes too?" Stella asked, still concentrating on trying to eat the cupcake. She didn't look Frank in the eye. In fact, Frank realised she had been avoiding eye contact every since he came in.

"About a dozen or so high-ranking MI9 agents were affected, Stella," Frank said gently. "No one knew about the risks. And besides, apart from the paperwork, it's all over now."

Having finished the cupcake, Stella tossed the wrapping into the bin and reached for her mug, swallowing water as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, this meant that she began to choke on it.

Frank quickly stood up and moved around the desk, patting Stella on the back as she coughed. Once her airway was under control again, she drank a few more mouthfuls of water and Frank returned to his seat.

"Thanks," Stella said. "And tell the team I'm sorry."

Frank frowned, confused. "What for? I told you - heaps of MI9 agents were affected. It's not your fault."

Finally meeting Frank's eyes, Stella stood up her palms flat on her table. "I abandoned your team to face an incredibly dangerous mission in which they would have been disowned if they were discovered. I know for a fact that you had to cut communications from Dan and Aneisha - what if something had happened to them? It's incredibly good luck that Keri had the ingenuity to save the day, because otherwise, the entire country would be ruined!"

Startled by her outburst, Frank simply sat there, unsure of what he should do.

Stella sat down again, looking down at her desk. "I abandoned my posting when I was needed most," she said, her voice so quiet now that Frank could barely hear her.

'Stella," Frank finally found his voice. "It's not your fault. You have to stop blaming yourself for everything."

Still staring at her desk, her hands clasped in front of her, Stella did not respond.

Frank sighed, standing up slowly. "I've leave you to your paperwork then. Try and get some rest. And if you'll ever listen to me, it's - not - your - fault."

Just as Frank opened the door to leave the office, Stella's voice stopped him. "Frank."

He turned, and found Stella looking up at him, her eyes hiding a whirlpool of confused emotion. "Thank you," she said.

Frank smiled, nodded his acknowledgement, and went back to work.

"Let's see," he muttered, as he pulled out his list of cupcake deliveries. "The office of Edward Dixon Halliday - Oscar Cole and Carrie Stewart."


	6. The Shadow Games

"It's not looking good."

Frank and Stella had spent the best part of the afternoon going through Keri's file, wincing at all the instances of distraction, carelessness and purely stupid mistakes. Worst of all, in all too many cases, Keri's lack of dedication to her job had put Dan and Aneisha in danger. Frank shifted nervously in his seat, watching Stella's face as she read through Keri's file one more time. Stella's expression gave nothing away, making Frank all the more anxious.

"Frank..."

"Stella, please." Frank spun his chair slightly so he could look Stella in the eyes. "She's extremely talented, and at heart, she's a great agent. I can help her catch up."

"Frank," Stella spoke gently, knowing how much Keri meant to Frank. "The evidence is against her. It's MI9 protocol - "

"Oh, always with the protocol!" Frank pushed back from the desk and stood up, letting his chair slide several metres, unoccupied, to crash into the wall behind him. "Keri's a good girl. You know that! You've seen what she's done."

Stella stood up as well, taking a few steps forward towards the central table. Frank rested his elbows against it as she approached so their eyes were at the same level.

"Frank, you know as well as I do that a distracted attitude can get us all killed. Dan, Aneisha and Tom could be killed. Keri needs to give MI9 100% or nothing at all. I'm sorry."

Stella gazed into Frank's eyes, seeking a sign that he understood. Frank averted his eyes, instead staring at the dimly lit tabletop.

"Aneisha was captured last week when Keri's phone went off," Stella continued, her voice softer and kinder than ever. "You remember how worried we all were. It's a miracle she escaped unharmed."

"It wasn't a miracle," Frank muttered. "It was Tom's insane determination and superhuman hacking skills."

Stella had no reply to that, so she simply remained silent and waited for Frank to accept the inevitable.

"But I suppose you're right," Frank said with a sigh. His eyes burned with distress and resignation. "She's going to be devastated," he said sadly. "You'd better call her down."

With the practised stoicism of a chief agent, Stella left Frank to his thoughts and walked into a side room, pulling out her communicator. She was definitely not going to enjoy her upcoming conversation with Keri. Frank was right, she thought, as she heard the lift doors announcing Keri's arrival. MI9 protocol was pain in the neck. More often than she cared to admit, Stella respected Frank's ability to trust his instincts, despite having to ignore protocol and defy his superiors.

She heard Frank telling Keri that it was not he who called her down. Blinking rapidly to control her emotions, Stella put on a professional smile and walked to greet Keri, folder in hand.

"Keri." Her voice was pleasant, and her expression gave nothing away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Frank leave the main room to take a call on his phone. She was on her own.

Stella gestured for Keri to sit down. "Have a seat."


	7. The Shadow Games (II)

It had been an intense couple of hours standing in front of the screen. Neither Stella nor Frank had moved an inch as they watched the broadcast of the Shadow Games, hoping beyond all hope that Keri would get out safely.

Frank had attempted to remove himself emotionally from the situation, focusing only on the logistical aspects of the mission. He failed spectacularly. He cared too much about Keri.

Stella didn't even attempt to shut out her emotions, as she normally would have done with ease. Buried too deeply in her exaggerated sense of guilt, her overwhelming feeling of responsibility left her helplessly watching the screen, nervously fiddling with her hands. She trusted Frank and the team to make the important decisions, finally understanding that Frank's instincts and connection to his team were far more reliable than MI9 protocol.

Alexis von Hades appeared on the screen, and both Frank and Stella held their breaths as they watched Keri and von Hades circle each other. One by one, Keri's best moves were effortlessly blocked.

The eerie voice of von Hades penetrated the base. "Learn this - learn when to die!"

While Stella turned away unable to watch, Frank's eyes remained glued to the screen, watching as Keri fell to the ground for the last time. For a long moment, he stared at the screen, unconsciously entertaining the ridiculous hope that Keri would get up, that she would be all right.

"He killed her." Frank's voice portrayed exactly how Stella felt. Shocked.

Finally tearing his eyes from the screen, Frank looked at Stella, who was shying away from his gaze, her hands clasped at her chest, slowing absorbing the impact of what had happened. Her eyes slid over to see the shock and grief on Frank's face, then she averted her gaze again. This was her fault. She would never be able to look Frank in the eye again.

"Stella." Frank reached a hand to Stella's shoulder, turning her to face him. "It's not your fault."

Completely bewildered by Frank's mind-reading capabilities despite the situation, Stella found herself reaching her arms around him. Instinctively, Frank pulled Stella close to him.

"I'm so sorry, Frank," she whispered. Her words felt so inadequate to appease his grief. Even though she wasn't based at St Heart's, she knew that Frank saw each of his agents as family.

"Frank! Stella!" Aneisha's voice came into their headsets, and their pulled apart, confused. Aneisha sounded jubilant.

"I'm fine." It was Keri's voice this time. Frank and Stella exchanged looks of confused joy. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I faked my own death."

Frank breathed a sigh of relief as a huge smile broke out on his face. He wrapped his arms around Stella once more, while speaking into his microphone, "Can't wait to see you, Keri!"

"She's all right," Frank laughed. "She's all right, and she's coming back!"

To Stella's surprise, she felt drops of tears soaking into her shoulder. Extracting herself from Frank's tight embrace, she saw that he was crying.

"Frank, what's wrong?" Stella asked in surprise and concern, reaching up to wipe away his tears with her thumb.

"Nothing's wrong." Frank squeezed Stella so tightly that she was struggling to breath. "I'm just so relieved."

A sudden thought occurred to him, and Frank released his grip on Stella so that he could look into her eyes. "And another thing." He paused to make sure she was paying attention. "None of this is your fault. Stop blaming yourself for everything."

Stella marvelled once more at Frank's endless supply of compassion. She dropped her gaze, hoping Frank wouldn't notice that she was blinking three times as fast as usual. Frank simply embraced her again so that her tears fell into his jacket, disappearing into the deep blue fabric.


	8. The Beginning

There were four people in the room. Frank stood up the front in front of the projector screen, having just presented his report on the WMD mission to the Prime Minister, Minister for Security, and Stella.

"Well, Agent London, your actions were unorthodox, but your decisions were justified," the Prime Minister concluded. He stood up, indicating that the meeting was over.

"We owe your team another gesture of thanks," the Minister for Security said, also standing and collecting his things. "Pass it on for us."

Frank nodded gratefully. "I will, sir. Thank you very much."

As the politicians left, Frank was left in the briefing room with Stella, who didn't look at all pleased. She hadn't said a single word during the report. Instead, she'd sat at the back of the room, making Frank nervous by taking down notes on everything he said.

Now she walked up to him and gestured for him to sit down. Frank obeyed and Stella sat opposite him, clasping her hands together on the desk. Frank swallowed nervously. He'd known from the moment he let the team go back to the lab that Stella would be furious. Now it was time to accept the inevitable.

"Let me get this straight," Stella began, glancing at her notes periodically. "You allowed Dan, Keri, Aneisha and Tom to go back to the lab, leading your team to disobey direct orders, then told Tom to hack into a classified MI9 file, and proceeded with an unauthorised, potentially dangerous mission, while keeping me in the dark the whole time."

Frank opened his mouth to speak, but Stella continued. "Do you know why I'm angry at you?"

"Because I disobeyed orders," Frank answered immediately. "And I'm sorry, but it had to be done."

Stella suppressed the urge to smile. It was completely typical of Frank to ignore the rules, protocols and procedures of MI9 and proceed with nothing but his own instincts and strong sense of right and wrong. Nevertheless, Frank and the agents had ventured into that underground lab.

"I'm angry because you and your agents went down into that lab," Stella's tone was just as harsh as before. "That place is dangerous! Do you remember what happened the last time you were down there?"

A look of dawning comprehension appeared on Frank's face. So this was what it was all about.

"Stella, everything's fine," Frank said reassuringly. "We were careful down there - "

"Careful! Keri accidentally discovered a secret tunnel! Is that your definition of careful?" Stella's voice rose in pitch as she spoke.

Reaching across the table, Frank took Stella's hands in his own and squeezed them reassuringly. "Stella, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just...did what I thought was best."

"As you always do," Stella said, smiling. By now she had abandoned all pretence that she was angry due to disobeyed orders. "But every time I think of that lab, I can picture it all so clearly in my mind. You were unconscious on the floor. I called your name and you didn't respond. There was no heartbeat! That's what I associate with the lab."

Frank listened carefully, nodding his understanding. "That's why you were angry. You let us disobey orders all the time, but not this one."

Stella nodded. Frank had always been able to read her mind, especially when she needed him to.

Frank knew that Stella would be furious when she found out they'd visited the lab, but not because she had ordered them to stay away. Stella knew that the team respected her orders and only went against them when absolutely necessary. In this case, she had been furious about the event because they had entered the lab where Frank had nearly died, and her anger was simply a by-product of her concern for him. It was touching, in a way, that Stella's anger was simply an expression - though she would never admit it - of her love.

"But we're all fine," Frank continued. "We're fine, and we know that lab now, so we know how to handle it safely. Trust us."

Frank squeezed Stella's hands once more, before he let go and stood up, beginning to pack away his things. "I'd better get back to the school," he said. "Mr Flatley needed the arts classroom door replaced, and I haven't gotten round to it yet."

Standing up, Stella retrieved her notes and approached the door. As her hand closed on the doorknob, a thought struck her and she turned back.

"Frank?"

Frank looked up as he zipped his laptop case closed.

"Thanks for saving the country."

With that, Stella left the briefing room, heading towards her office. She'd always be worried about the M.I. High team, but at least she could trust Frank to take good care of them. Now, there was simply that stack of paperwork waiting on her desk. Stella sighed as she pushed open her office door. Such was life.


	9. The Return of the Dark Wizard

Frank called Stella while they were in the lift. Dan, Aneisha and Keri would be heading over to the MI9 data archive, and Stella needed to know.

"Frank, what's going on? The entire MI9 network is down!" Stella answered her phone, sounding stressed. In the background, Frank could hear an argument going on between Stark and one of the other agents. As far as he could tell, they were accusing each other of letting in the cyber-attacker.

"Not the entire network, Stella," Frank said as he came out of the caretaker's storeroom. "We've still got access here."

"Thanks to Tom," Aneisha cut in, following Frank out of the storeroom.

"Thanks to Tom," Frank repeated into his phone. "The automated defence system for the MI9 data archive's been triggered. Dan, Aneisha and Keri are going to head over there now."

Through his phone, Frank could hear cheering in the background.

"One moment, Frank," Stella said, sounding exasperated. She covered her mouthpiece and yelled to her agents to stop celebrating and get back to work. In a less serious situation, Frank would have been amused at the sudden silence that resulted from Stella's order.

"Sorry about that," Stella came back to her phone. "Make sure Tom's got logistical back-up sorted when the others visit the archive. Those automated defence systems are very thorough."

"Speaking of Tom, Stella, I'm worried about him. I think he feels undervalued. He's turning to one of those online games to play the hero!"

There was a pause, and Frank could picture Stella's frown as she digested this information. Indeed, Stella's voice portrayed her confusion when she replied, "Tom know his technological skills are of utmost importance. We acknowledged Dan's bravery, but it does not mean we undervalue Tom. He knows that."

Frank sighed. "I don't have any evidence, but I have a hunch that Tom's worried about what Aneisha thinks of him. I was a teenage boy once, and I know how he feels."

There was another pause, but this time, Frank could hear Stark's voice yelling in the background, "You morons! We need this network up and running or else - "

Another agent interrupted Stark, sounding very much irritated. "Sir, we know! We just need to concentrate!"

Stella sighed audibly. "Well, believed it or not, I've never been a teenage boy, so I'm afraid I can't help you there. I'm sorry, Frank, I have to deal with this issue back here."

"Good luck with that, Stella. I'll report when there's a change."

"Thanks," Stella replied, and abruptly hung up. No doubt Stark was wreaking havoc at HQ.

Pocketing his phone, Frank returned to the lift, resolving to check on Stella's stress levels every so often. He hoped Stark would be moved into another department soon, preferably one where he could work alone. It would do everyone a favour.


	10. Free Runner

With a satisfied grunt, Frank stood up and admired his handiwork. The water pipe had never been so well-fixed. Dusting off his hands, Frank pulled out his phone and checked it, frowning when he found no unread messages.

Over an hour ago, Stella had called to say she'd be visiting St Heart's in an hour or so for the assessment. Stella was never late, and if Frank wasn't in the base, she always called to let him know she'd arrived.

Frank placed his spanner into his toolbox and picked it up, deciding to head down to the spy base anyway.

A group of students were sitting near the entrance, groaning as Mr Flatley announced a new supply teacher.

Frank froze. "Stella?" he said without thinking, his toolbox clattering to the floor. Stella was dressed in ordinary civilian clothes for once, and she looked beautiful in a yellow dress and orange cardigan, her shiny hair falling behind her in waves.

Everyone looked at Frank, who quickly came to his senses, mumbling an excuse for his accidental use of Stella's name. He hurried off towards the base, leaving the Stella to get to know the students.

Stella arrived at the base not long after Frank himself, striding out of the lift with an air of confidence that Frank had not noticed before.

"What was the meaning of that?" she demanded, although her amused smile made her much less intimidating than usual. "You nearly blew your cover and mine!"

Frank waved his hands around uselessly, searching for a reason that did not involved his feelings for Stella. "I was just surprised, that's all."

"I told you I'd be coming!"

"You didn't tell me you'd be undercover!" Frank protested. "Why are you here anyway?"

"Two reasons," Stella replied, handing him a file. "We have a mission, but I've also got to do your team's annual assessment."

Nodding his understanding, Frank skimmed through the file. Unfortunately for him, Stella's presence was proving to be very distracting and by the time he had read through the last document in the file, he had absorbed nothing at all.

"All good?" Stella asked, looking over Frank's shoulder to see that he had finished reading. He could feel her breath on his cheek, which was not helping at all.

Frank could not think of an appropriate response. He still had no idea what the mission was about. Luckily, Stella seemed to pick up on this and proceeded to provide a brief summary of the mission file for him. Frank concentrated very hard on what Stella's was saying, looking at the file rather than at her, and managed to grasp a shallow understanding of the mission content.

When Frank finally put down the file, Stella had picked up Flopsy from where he was asleep on the keyboard and placed him on the round table, out of the way. Flopsy did not appreciate being woken from his nap and proceeded to bite down on Stella's finger as if it were a carrot.

Stella gave a very undignified yelp of pain, and Frank panicked.

"Are you all right?" Frank asked urgently, rushing over to examine Stella's finger. The bite marks were relatively shallow but were bleeding profusely.

While Frank dashed off to get the first-aid kit, Stella sat down and glared at Flopsy. "You never bite anyone. Why do you hate me so much?"

"He doesn't hate you," Frank said as he came back with the kit, sitting down next to Stella to attend to her cut. "He's just been in a bad mood all morning because Tom and Aneisha were far too late with his breakfast. Apparently they got distracted on their way down."

Stella hissed when Frank applied the antiseptic, but the pain quickly disappeared and Frank gently applied a bandage.

"Thanks," Stella said quietly.

"You're welcome." Frank looked up to see that a strand of her hair had fallen over her face and, without thinking, he reached up to tuck it behind her ear.

Stella smiled, remembering how Frank used to do that all the time. In the past, she had worn her hair down a lot more often and it would incessantly fall across her face.

A sudden bell announced the teenagers descending in the lift, and Frank, aroused from his reverie, packed up the first-aid materials and stood up to replace them on the shelf.

The lift doors opened, and Keri immediately started pointing out that Stella was "totally rocking that look". Frank could not help but agree.


	11. Free Runner (II)

Aneisha had been right, Frank thought, as he surveyed the papers flying around Stella's classroom. Indeed, he would be spending more time with Stella while she was undercover at St Heart's, although he was pretty sure cleaning up the classroom was not what Aneisha had in mind.

"Dinner monkeys?" Frank asked as he began to pick up the papers that Stella's class had thrown around.

Stella shrugged and joined him in the clean-up. "Long story. Any news from Dan and Keri?"

There was a snapping noise and Frank stepped on someone's pencil. He picked up the two halves and lobbed them into the bin. "That's what I came to tell you about. The Runners were testing if Dan could keep up, so he ran off and left Keri behind. We haven't heard from him since."

Stella frowned, bending down to pick up another textbook. "That's not good. We have no idea what these Runners are up to and by the sounds of it, Dan idolises them far too much."

"This is going on his assessment, isn't it?" Frank asked worriedly, trying to sneak a glance at Stella's clipboard.

Stella, of course, did not miss the action and flipped the clipboard over, shielding the assessment sheets from view. "Frank, I'm sorry. As much as I want your team to remain as it is, I have to do my job."

Someone had thrown a book behind the teacher's desk, and Stella was struggling to move it out of the way to get to Jane Austen's _Pride and Prejudice_. Frank came over to help her, and they lifted the desk away from the wall.

'I know, Stella," Frank said as he reached for the book, pulling it out from between the desk and the wall. "I'm not blaming you on anything. Just worried about Dan." He pushed the desk back into place, the heavy timber scraping across the floor.

Stella smiled. "I'll do my best to be as positive and truthful as possible in this assessments, Frank. It's great that you care so much about your agents."

Nodding his appreciation for her compliment, Frank ducked outside to empty the bin, then quickly brought it in again so they could resume cleaning up the classroom. By now, the classroom was completely free of loose paper and books, but neither Frank nor Stella was in a hurry to depart from the other's company.

"At any rate," Frank said, straightening a desk that was already perfectly in line with the rest. "I'm glad they sent you and not Stark."

"I volunteered," Stella replied. She was removing artworks from the wall and pinning them up again, in exactly the same positions as before. "They needed someone unbiased and Stark was far too biased to be sent."

"You're biased too," Frank pointed out.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I can't put forward an unbiased assessment. I thought you were glad I came?"

"I am," Frank said quickly. "The others are as well. They love your classes. Apparently you make a great teacher as well as a great spy."

"Then you should sit in on one of my lessons," Stella said with a laugh. "Mr Flatley was in this one."

Frank opened his mouth to reply, but his mop started flashing. Grabbing the mop, he covered the flashing light with his hand and spoke briefly into the handle. Stella listened to Frank's half of the conversation, trying to work out what's going on.

"Dan's back," Frank said, putting down the mop. "Let's go."

The teacher and the caretaker ran out the room to meet Dan in the playground. Meanwhile, the classroom they left behind had never been so immaculately tidy.


	12. Free Runner (III)

Stella was nearly running when she approached the caretaker's storeroom. Her vision blurred as she slipped inside and pulled the broom, hoping to find a few moments alone to regather her composure. She had no idea why Mrs King's comment had affected her so strongly. After all, she was a spy, not a teacher.

The lift doors slid open and Stella was startled to find Frank calling Dan's name into his headset, apparently receiving no response.

"Frank, what's happened?" Stella asked, walking out of the lift.

"Dan's gone after the Runners," Frank replied, typing something into the computer. "It looks like the Runners betrayed his trust. He says he needs to do this alone."

Frank turned away from the computer, and caught sight of Stella standing at the round table, tear streaks gleaming on her cheeks. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and put his arms around her. "Stella, what's wrong?"

A few more stray tears leaked from Stella's eyes into Frank's shoulder and a stream of incoherent words tumbled from her mouth. Frank was too distracted by Stella's distress to think logically, but he managed to deduce that Mrs King had somehow upset Stella.

"Mrs King's just jealous," Frank murmured reassuringly, rubbing a hand up and down Stella's back. "Aneisha's always going on about her aunt's insecurities. Try not to take it personally."

A few minutes later, Stella had calmed down enough to pull away from Frank, leaning back against the round table as she brushed away her tears. Frank turned back to the computer, giving Stella some privacy to gather her thoughts.

Quickly reviving her professionalism, Stella reached for her clipboard, remembering a few more notes she had to make on the assessment sheets. It was then that she realised it was missing. She racked her brains, thinking to where she saw it last. While she was collecting the students' opinions on the school, she'd left her bag and clipboard on the chair next to the lockers. Then there was the disastrous confrontation with Mrs King that she was trying to forget. She'd walked away, upset, then stopped in the next corridor when she realised she wasn't carrying anything. Upon returning, she'd simply picked up her bag and escaped to the base. The clipboard definitely was not on the chair.

"Frank..."

Frank spun 180 degrees on his chair. "What is it?"

"I think I may have broken our cover," Stella said slowly, blinking rapidly.

Standing up, Frank approached Stella and placed his hands on her shoulders, leaning down slightly so she wouldn't have to look up at him. "Stella, trust me, I think that every day. No one expects us to be spies. They'd sooner expected you to be a...a school inspector or something."

Frank slipped his arms around Stella again and pulled her close to him, feeling her relax. He suddenly remember that she was dressed as a teacher today, and decided to take advantage of that fact, reaching a hand up to stroke her hair. The action had always calmed her whenever she was anxious about something, another of those little things that Frank remembered from a decade ago, that seemed so foreign and yet so familiar.

"Try not to worry," he said, and he heard Stella murmur her thanks into his chest.

Of course, Stella always worried, but it was comforting to know that Frank, at least, had absolute faith in her.


	13. The League of Matahari

Frank had just cleaned out Flopsy's cage and the lift doors opened with a hiss and Stella walked into HQ.

"Good news, Frank," she said. "I've got an invitation for you."

Stella handed Frank a sealed envelope, stamped with the words "Top Secret: For the intended recipient only". With mounting curiosity, Frank opened the envelope to find an invitation to the League of Matahari, what he knew to be a highly exclusive, top secret social club for spies.

Stella observed Frank's reaction with amusement. Confusion and curiosity quickly turned into pure delight. It was usually only the highest ranking agents that were invited to join.

"You have to pass three tests," Stella explained, laughing slightly at Frank's ecstatic smile. "The test of silence, the test of complete disclosure, and an oath. The details for the first test are at the bottom."

"You have authority to invite me?" Frank asked incredulously., tearing his eyes from the invitation to look at Stella.

"I'm the president, but don't tell anyone," Stella said, still smiling. Frank had always marveled at the beauty of Stella's smile. It was a pity that Stella didn't have much to smile about on a day-to-day basis.

"Really? You have time for a social club?" Frank raised his eyebrows in exaggerated surprise. "I thought all you did was paperwork and assessments!"

"Careful, Frank! Don't insult me - I'm the one conducting your entrance tests," Stella replied in mock seriousness, though her playful smile gave her away.

"So I'm guaranteed entry then?" Frank said, pocketing his invitation. "If you're conducting the tests."

"Don't be so confident," Stella answered, her smile growing wider as she teased him. Frank decided he would try to give Stella something to smile about every day. "But yes, as long as you don't do anything ridiculous, you'll get in for sure. We'll be able to spend time together without having to fight some world-threatening criminal organisation."

Frank's eyes lit up at the thought of spending more time with Stella. "Yes, that would be nice. Speaking of world-threatening criminal organisations though, KORPS had been quiet of late. They're not up to anything we know of? The agents are getting bored."

Stella shook her head, her smile disappearing. "Knowing KORPS, they're definitely up to something, but we don't know what it is. This could be dangerous, actually, now that you mention it. Whenever KORPS go quiet, they're preparing for something big. Like a long-range missile set to hit London."

"But we'll be ready for it this time," Frank said, trying to sound confident and reassuring. Apparently he didn't manage to achieved the desired tone of voice, because Stella stepped forward and hugged him. Instinctively, Frank hugged back.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." Stella's voice was so soft that she was almost whispering.

"It's okay," Frank murmured.

"We're not going to be ready," Stella continued. "But we will win in the end. It's like Tom would say: Good will prevail."

"Just as long as the losses aren't so great," Frank said bitterly. As clearly as if it were yesterday, he could hear Hyperia's voice saying it was his choice as he felt his hand shaking as it hovered over the button that controlled the blast doors. In his mind's eye, he could see Hyperia's salute as his hand pressed down on the buttom, hearing Stella's voice screaming through his earpiece.

Stella pulled back from Frank's embrace to look up into his glistening brown eyes. "Frank, it's not your fault."

Frank felt like she as repeating his own words back to him. How many times had he told her not to blame herself for everything? Now she was giving his own advice back to him.

"I'm so sorry, Frank," Stella said. "I shouldn't have blamed you. I can't imagine how much I hurt you."

Frank nodded. "I forgave you long ago."

"I can't promise people won't be hurt, Frank," Stella continued. "But this time, we are stronger, smarter, and we know KORPS better than ever before."

"I know," Frank said with a weak smile. "You're amazing, Stella."

After Stella had returned to HQ, Frank sat down at the computer, pulling out his invitation to the LMH and staring it at. A social club where he could spend time with Stella. He couldn't wait.

"What do you think, Flopsy?" Frank asked. The rabbit continued to sleep. "It should be good fun. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?"


	14. The League of Matahari (II)

"Frank, please, you have to believe us!" Keri cried.

The team were holding an informal meeting in the base, during which Dan, Keri, Aneisha and Tom attempted, once more, to convince Frank that the League of Matahari were up to no good. Various documents lay scattered over the round table, Flopsy had been confined to his cage so that he would not interfere, and Tom had collated a 12-page long document detailing the evidence for their case.

By this point, Tom had read his essay on sinister LMH activities so many times that Frank had practically memorised it. Frank, however, was still unsure and was sitting back in his chair, a frown on his face.

For once, Dan agreed with Keri. "Frank, Keri's right. The evidence is all here - you just have to look at it."

Tom reached for his 12-page essay again. Aneisha reacted quickly, pulling the document out of his grip before he could even begin to read it, but it was too late. Frank stood up, slapping his hands on the table in a rare display of anger.

"This is Stella we're talking about! I have known her for over a decade and apart from you lot, she is the most morally upright person I have ever known. She always - _always_ - throws aside everything she believes in, everything she loves, in order to serve the greater good!" Frank sat down, his eyes still blazing.

"Frank, you have to look at the facts! We know you love Stella - " Tom began, but Frank cut him off.

"No, you don't! You're a teenager! You don't even understand what love is." With that, Frank stood up again and stormed into the lift. The doors closed and the familiar ring of a bell signaled the door's ascent.

Aneisha turned to Tom, looking furious and sad at the same time. "Being a spy is more than science and facts, Tom."

As the lift returned down and the doors opened, Aneisha ran into it, tossing Tom's 12-page essay in the bin on the way.

"She's not angry at you, Tom," Keri said wisely, observing that Tom had now buried his face in his hands, resting against the table in front of him. "She's just worried about everything. We all are."

Aneisha found Frank behind the main building, leaning against a tree. She sat down beside him and remained silent, listening to Lady J's music blaring out of one of the empty classrooms nearby.

After a long silence, when Frank finally spoke, his voice was steady and full of steely determination "I know what Stella would do in my place. When KORPS first came to power, she even arrested me when the evidence was there. She didn't want too. Apparently, she still loved me then. Apparently, she loves me now. She admitted it today, indirectly."

"Of course she loves you, Frank," Aneisha said quietly. "Did you tell her you love her too?"

"Yes. Indirectly."

"Good," Aneisha said approvingly. "I suppose with you two, an indirect confession is as good as we'll ever get."

There was another silence, broken only by Lady J's music in the background. Frank contemplated Aneisha's words. She was right.

Suddenly, Frank turned and gripped Aneisha by the shoulders, looking at her intently.

"Aneisha, you have incredible instincts regarding people. Tell me, is Stella really involved in Mike Stern's conspiracy?"

Aneisha could almost hear her brain whirring as it raced to process the question. Frank definitely believed them, regarding the whole LMH thing. but he was desperately trying to deny Stella's involvement.

"Frank," Aneisha said, her voice gentle. "I can't know for sure. The facts are against her, but if you're really asking what my instincts are telling me, then I think Stella is innocent. But I might be wrong - "

"Thank you," Frank interrupted, releasing Aneisha's shoulders and leaning back against the tree. "If you're right, which you mostly are when it comes to people, then even if the facts are against Stella now, she will eventually be proven innocent. We'll find the truth."

Aneisha could tell that Frank was trying to make himself believe his own words, but at the same time, Aneisha knew that everything Frank said was true.

When Aneisha and Frank took the lift back down, Dan, Keri and Tom were waiting for them.

"What do you propose we do?" Frank asked, sliding into his seat at the table.

"Dan's got a plan," Keri replied, gesturing at Dan to explain.

Aneisha sat down next to Tom as Dan began explaining his plan to trap the LMH conspirators at Frank's ceremony the next day. Tom leaned over and whispered to Aneisha, "No idea what you told him, but good job!"

Aneisha nodded her acknowledgement but did not smile as she normally would when Tom offered her a compliment. Stella was going to be arrested, and none of them could do anything about it.


	15. The League of Matahari (III)

"Frank. Frank!" Stella called after Frank's rapidly disappearing form. He walked quickly, eyes set on the ground in front of him, as if he was desperate to get away from Stella's company.

Stella stood still, simply watching, until Frank had rounded the corner and was completely out of sight. When she moved from her stock-still position, it was a sudden movement. She strode up to her office, opened the door violently and dropped the files into her in-tray, collapsing on her chair and resting her head against her desk. Frank had admitted that he loved her, albeit indirectly. She had responded in kind. What had made him so upset now? Why was he questioning her sense of right and wrong?

There was a polite but timid knock on the door. Stella groaned inwardly. Confused and upset about Frank, the last think she needed was to drain her energy dealing with some sort of political issue within MI9.

"Come in," she called, sitting up straight and picking up a pen as if she was in the middle of something.

The door creaked open slowly and Aneisha and Keri slipped inside.

Stella looked up and saw the teenagers, feeling only relief. They would never come up with a complicated diplomatic issue, and might even know something about Frank.

"Aneisha. Keri. What a lovely surprise," said Stella. "Take a seat."

The girls exchanged nervous glances and sat down opposite Stella. Stella did not miss their shared look of apprehension.

"What's wrong?" she asked, although she suspected they'd come about something to do with Frank.

Aneisha took a breath, hesitated and then started talking. "Stella, please, we can't say much and Frank doesn't know we're here. But you have to trust us."

Keri nodded in agreement. Both girls looked rather desperate and unwilling to say too much. Glancing between them, Stella saw that both pairs of eyes pleaded with her, beseeching her to listen.

Stella frowned. She wasn't used to being kept in the dark. "Girls, what's going on? Frank's really upset about something to do with me and I have no idea what he's on about."

"Exactly," Aneisha said, glancing meaningfully at Keri. Aneisha had dragged Keri here, as Keri wasn't sure if Stella was innocent. "Just trust us for once. Don't go to Frank's ceremony tomorrow."

Stella felt her patience wavering. "That's exactly what Frank told me, but he wouldn't tell me why! But why wouldn't I go? It's an important day for Frank after all, being inducted into the League..."

"We can't say why," Keri answered regretfully. "You can't be there tomorrow, Stella. Just don't go."

"Please," Aneisha said. "I'm sure Frank really wanted to tell you everything, and we do too, but we just can't. I'm sorry, Stella."

"Look, I really don't understand what's going on," Stella said, standing up. "But I see no reason not to attend the ceremony tomorrow, and if you have nothing more to say, I must insist that you leave me to get through my paperwork."

Aneisha and Keri admitted defeated and exchanged a sad look. They stood up as well, and Stella ushered them towards the door. Keri slipped through into the corridor, but Aneisha turned back to face Stella.

"Stella." Aneisha made sure Stella was paying attention before resuming. "Whatever happens, remember this: Frank loves you. We all do. And we always will."

With that, she left the office to join Keri in the corridor, leaving a thoroughly confused and worried Stella in her office. She _would_ go to the ceremony the next day, Stella decided, even if it was just to find out what was going on.


	16. The League of Matahari (IV)

Aneisha had gone through eleven sets of disguises to infiltrate MI9's high security prison. She had dragged Tom with her, coaching him through seven rapid costume changes. Now, Aneisha stood before the door of Stella's cell, waiting as Tom hacked in to open up the door. Tom had already hacked in to the camera system so that it looked like the corridor where they stood was empty.

Frank did not know about this visit, just as he never knew about the time Aneisha dragged Keri to Stella's office in an attempt to warn her of the LMH trap. Since the arrest, Frank had buried himself in work, either in the fight against KORPS, or caretaker work at the school. St Heart's had never been so beautiful - not a single leaky tap or dodgy drain, all the lawns and gardens immaculate, and every fence paling painted to exactly the same shade.

When he wasn't working, eating or sleeping, Frank was writing letters to Stella. He would never send those letters and he never told anyone about them, but when he wasn't down in the base, Aneisha would get Tom to take high-quality pictures of them with his spypod. Neither of them had ever read these letters but they'd printed out paper copies and folded them into envelopes, labelling each one with the time and date. Aneisha now had a stack of these letters hidden in her her jacket.

"Bingo," said Tom as the door swung open.

"You never cease to amaze me," Aneisha said with a smile, grabbing Tom's hand to drag him into the room.

Tom closed the door cautiously behind them and stuck a small gadget onto it to ensure that they would be able to open it again. He had already hacked into the surveillance system to that it looked to any guard that Stella was alone in the room.

To say that Stella was shocked to see them was an understatement. She had been writing something, and the very sound of the door startled her, sending her pen scratching across the paper. On looking up to see Tom and Aneisha, she had dropped her pen and notepad, standing up from the bed in utter disbelief.

"Tom! Aneisha! What...?" Stella shook her head in complete incomprehension.

Aneisha stepped forward and embraced her, then stepped back so that Tom would do the same.

"Just a social visit," Tom said with a smile. "And a little exercise in the art of hacking into a state-of-the-art security facility."

"Let me guess," said Stella, sitting back down on the bed. "Frank doesn't know." She looked at Aneisha in mock accusation. It had only been a few days, but it was indescribably good to see familiar, friendly faces.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, Aneisha," Stella said. "Tell Keri and Frank I'm sorry too."

"It's all right. And I will," Aneisha promised, sitting down on the bed.

Tom pulled out the chair from the desk and sat down, turning on his laptop, checking that no one had picked up on their presence.

"This isn't just a social call," Aneisha said. She pulled out Frank's letters and gave them to Stella. There were are least a dozen of them, ordered by time and date. "We're also delivering the post today. I'm not sure how morally sound this is, but Frank's been writing letters to you. He doesn't know that we know about them, but Tom's been taking pictures of them. We printed them and placed them in envelopes according to when they were written. I promise we were very careful never to read them."

Stella gripped the letters, her hands shaking. A lone tear rolled down her cheek and Aneisha gazed at her with sympathy.

"Aneisha..." Stella was lost for words.

"You're welcome," Aneisha replied, knowing what Stella meant.

Tom chose this moment to interrupt. "I don't know how long until they work out what I've done. We should go."

Aneisha nodded her understanding. "Stella, I promise, you'll get out of this. There is always hope."

"Thank you," Stella said. "And, please, give these to Frank for me." She had pulled out a stack of paper from until her bed and handed it to Aneisha, who took them, smiling. Of course Stella had written to Frank too.

"Of course I will," Aneisha said. "See you soon."

Stella watched as Tom and Aneisha vanished out of the door, letting it close again with a clunk. She sighed, then looked down at Frank's letters in her hand. For the first time in days, with tears now running freely down her face, Stella smiled.


	17. The League of Matahari (V)

Tom and Aneisha found Frank by the flower bed, clipping the edges at the individual strands of grass with a pair of scissors until they were all the same height.

"Frank, you can't keep doing this," Tom said, meeting no resistance when he reached over to pull the scissors out of Frank's hands. 'This flower bed is officially over-gardened."

"Come on," Aneisha said, as she and Tom dragged Frank up from his crouched position and pulled him with them towards the caretaker's storeroom. Frank's toolbox clattered in Tom's free hand, his tools tired and worn out from overuse.

Frank said nothing as they took the lift down into the base where Dan and Keri were waiting. He waited until four teenagers and one rabbit were standing around (or on ) the round table, looking at him expectantly, before he realised he was supposed to say something.

"What's going on?" he asked. Dan and Keri exchanged looks of disbelief. Aneisha and Tom did the same.

"What's going on?" Dan repeated incredulously. "For days, you have trimmed hedges and fixed pipes, and not said a single word to us apart from giving us orders. And you're asking what's going on?"

"Well," Frank said. "It's a valid question."

Dan rested his elbows on the table and his head on his hands. "Aneisha and Tom have a confession to make," he said, sounding exasperated.

Frank looked at Aneisha and Tom, who nodded at each other, sharing a moment of silent understanding.

"We visited Stella," Aneisha began. "We hacked into the security system and let ourselves in."

Frank nodded slowly, not at all surprised that his agents would do such a thing. They had never really bothered with rules that stood in their way. "And by 'we' you mean Tom. Because let's face it, you don't have the skill."

"Well, yes," Aneisha admitted. "But I kind of made him do it."

"And I wouldn't have lasted two minutes without Aneisha making me change through multiple disguises," Tom added.

Frank could not help but be slightly amused. It was typical of Aneisha and Tom to do such a thing. Especially Aneisha. In brighter circumstances he would have laughed, or even smiled. However this time, Frank only gestured for Aneisha to continued.

"When we went, we took with us...well, I though it'd be for the best...I'm sorry, I should have asked..." Aneisha had her eyes averted, talking at Flopsy, who was being stroked by Frank.

"Go on, Neish," Tom said encouragingly.

"He's right. Frank can't be angry at the rest of us, so don't fear for our lives," Dan joked.

Keri laughed, and even Frank felt a twinge of amusement rising up beneath his mounting curiosity and apprehension.

Aneisha glared at her fellow agents, then Frank in the eyes. "I got Tom to take photos of your letters, we printed them out and gave them to Stella. I swear, we never read a single word."

Frank held Aneisha's gaze for a few moments, a mixture of sorrow, anger and embarrassment swirling in his eyes. Then his dropped his gaze, stepped forward, and drew Aneisha into a hug.

"I should have known. You have incredible mind-reading skills," he said. "Thank you."

Aneisha breathed a sigh of relief as Frank released her, and hugged Tom. While Dan and Keri took turns being hugged by Frank, Aneisha and Tom debated over when to give Stella's letters to Frank.

Once Frank had released Keri and turned back to face them, she took a deep breath and continued her tale. "Stella was pleased to see us, and very pleased to receive your letters."

Frank nodded, listening intently. The others smiled encouragingly at Aneisha.

Producing Stella's letters from her bag, Aneisha handed them to Frank. "She's been writing to you as well. She wanted us to give these to you. Again, I promise, not one of us has read a word of them."

Frank reached out and took the letters, his hand shaking. As he murmured his thanks, his voice broke a little with emotion rapidly building up, and he turned away from them, walking into one of the side rooms. Aneisha noticed his shoulders were shaking a little as he disappeared into solitude.

The four teenagers exchanged meaningful glances, and gathered their things, heading into the lift. Frank heard the lift doors close and the bell ring, announcing the lift's ascent. He was alone in the base.

Thoroughly touched by Aneisha's actions, Frank was already close to tears when he sat down and unfolded Stella's first letter.

_Dear Frank,_

_ I'm sorry. You must think I'm guilty, that I'm part of the conspiracy, and I know the facts are all against me. In your position, I'd think exactly the same. But if you ever knew me, if my words mean anything to you, then know this: I am innocent._

_ Regardless of whether you believe me, though I pray that one day, you will, I must apologise for all the hurt I have caused you, both recently, and over the past ten years. I'm sorry._

_ It's strange to think that your own test of complete disclosure was so similar to mine. I, too, blamed myself for that raid ten years ago when so many of our comrades lost their lives. I must reiterate now that it is not your fault, and I assure, I do listen to you and I no longer blame myself either. At least, not all of the time. But more importantly, I finished my test in a way very similar to you. As far as I remember, this is what I said:_

_ Ten years ago, I fell in love with one of my fellow agents. In all other aspects of my life, I followed protocol to the smallest detail. But I could not overcome my affection for this agent. To this day, I love him still._

_ This holds true now. You probably cannot bring yourself to love me anymore, now that you think I am a traitor to the country and more importantly, to you. If my words still mean anything to you, know this: I love you._

_With love,_

_Stella_

Drops of salt water fell onto the coarse paper, and Frank dabbed at them with his sleeve, before reaching up to dry his eyes. He refolded the letter carefully, then reached for the next one.

_Dear Frank,_

_It feels strange to be imprisoned by those I used to give orders to. It's incredibly lonely here. The guards won't talk to me when they bring my meals. They shoot me dirty looks and treat as the traitor that you must think I am._

_I'm not used to being idle. I sleep as much as possible, trying to distance myself from harsh reality. I dream of you and team. In dreams, I'm back in the St Heart's Base, laughing at Keri's comments and watching Tom play Blade Quest. I'm listening to Aneisha complain about her aunt, and Dan talking about the latest parkour move he's been working on. I'm in your presence, listening to your horrible jokes and seeing your beautiful smile._

_I've only been here for a day, but it feels like a lifetime. I miss you._

_I wonder what will happen when I am released, or if I am released. Will I be reinstated? Will I have any sort of life anymore? Everything seems so hopeless right now. I can only hope that one day, you'll find me innocent and accept me once more._

_Everyone sees me as the strong one, the chief agent who is always in control, who always knows what to do, and always delivers during a crisis or under pressure. Sometimes, like now, I want to escape that persona, and be protected and held and comforted. To be told to have hope and that everything will be all right even if it won't._

_I used to dream that you'd be the person to look after me. And you have. But I have no one now, just the four walls, the ceiling and the floor that confine me to my cell._

_Look after yourself, Frank. Don't bury yourself in work like I know you're doing. Open up to Dan, Keri, Tom and especially Aneisha. Trust them._

_With love,_

_Stella_

By now, Frank was weeping openly. There was no one but Flopsy to see him, he told himself. He folded up the letter, and kept reading.

By the time he had been through all of Stella's letters, he was emotionally exhausted, and yet somehow at peace. The school day had ended, and outside, the sky was only just getting dark. But deep underground, Frank fell asleep at the desk, his head on his arms, Stella's letters carefully tucked into the inside pocket of his jacket, waiting to be read again and again and again.


	18. The League of Matahari (VI)

_Dear Stella,_

_I am so sorry that I had you arrested. In my heart, I don't think I could ever believe that you would do such a thing, but my head prevailed over my heart. I'm a spy, after all. It's a cruel occupation. I tried so hard to clear your name, but the team insisted on looking at the facts. They didn't want to, so don't be angry at them. They just followed their training. The training that you gave them. I hope that one day, you'll find it in yourself to forgive me, to forgive as all._

_Aneisha thinks you're innocent. I hope with all my heart that she's right, but the facts are so cruel, and leave no room for sentimentality._

_ I confessed that I love you at the League building the other day, and you responded to tell me that you felt the same. It's been plaguing me every minutes of every day whether you really meant that._

_I worry about you, Stella. Guilty or innocent, I still love you and always will. Look after yourself. There's hope, always hope, and one day, we'll see each other again and providing you've found in it yourself to forgive me, it'll be a pleasant experience. Unless of course, there's another evil force threatening the country, but what are the chances of that? Actually, don't answer that question._

_What I really mean is, don't spend all day blaming yourself for everything and wallowing in misery. I hate it when you do that. You may not be used to not having a billion things to see to, so you have to be careful not to spend your days thinking too much. Go ask for a book, or some knitting, or something. You don't always have to be so responsible and in control. It's okay to be human._

_Love,_

_Frank_

_Dear Stella,_

_Just forget where you are for a moment and think back to those days when we were young and full of spirit, eager and naive in our fight against crime, before exposure to the world planted bitterness in our hearts and destroyed our dreams._

_I want you to think back to that incident on one of our training exercises out in the field. The one where everyone finished hours before you and Stark. We were sitting by the fire in the cabin, warm and comfortable when the two of you walked in, soaking wet and tired. Apparently someone had sabotaged your GPS, so that you had to spend twice as long as the rest of us navigating with a compass. Well, I have a confession to make._

_The saboteur was me._

_To be fair, it wasn't just me, but a whole lot of other agents as well. As you'll recall, it was getting close to graduation at the time, and none of us wanted to be stuck in an office dealing with our dear Horatio Stark. It was my idea to sabotage the two of you, although you must believe me, I had no idea that Stark's partner was you. Never in my wildest dreams would I seek to force you to spend extra time with Stark. At the time, I was still plucking up the courage to ask you out, and so I'd never confessed this particular deed._

_But believe me, when I found out that you'd been out there with an angry Stark and a broken GPS for hours, I felt very guilty indeed. So here's my apology, twelve years late. I'm sorry I sabotaged your training exercise, forcing you to spend hours out with the rain, the wind and Stark._

_However, I must make an observation. Our sabotage didn't work, because Stark still passed with flying colours. Well, that was your fault, because if he had been paired up with anyone else, he would not have performed anywhere near as well. So you sabotaged our sabotage. I call it even._

_There we are, another of my deepest secrets out in the open. Please don't be too angry._

_Love,_

_Frank_

As the door opened, Stella hurriedly thrust the letters back into her book, closing it so that the precious papers were hidden within the pages of _The Spy Who Loved Me._

Stark entered the room, dropped a tray of food on the table, and held out a clipboard for Stella to sign. Apparently, after the LMH arrest, senior agents were reduced to delivering food to detainees.

"Morning, Stella," Stark said with false cheeriness.

Stella ignored him, hoping he wouldn't notice the river of tears running down her face. Unfortunately, while Stark could mistake the Grand Master of SKUL to be a fortune teller and MI9 informant, he could also be annoyingly observant at times.

'Stella, what's wrong?" he asked, trying to sound sympathetic as he approached her and sat down next to her on the bed.

Stella grabbed the clipboard and marked off her name, declaring that she had received her meal, then thrust it back into his hands.

"Leave me alone."

"Well, that's not very friendly," Stark replied, taking his clipboard from her. "I was just trying to help."

"You're never just trying to help," Stella snapped. Then a thought came to her and she smiled slyly. "Remember that training exercise when our GPS broke and we were left with a compass?"

Stark nodded, suddenly attentive Perhaps Stella was offering friendship here. Life as a prison guard was incredibly lonely, even worse that being trapped with paperwork at HQ, and though he would never admit it, he had always had a soft spot for Stella.

"It was Frank who sabotaged us and broke the GPS."

An expression of fury arranged itself on Stark's face, but before he could speak, Stella finished by saying, "And I'm very glad he did."

Speechless, Stark stood up and stormed out the door, slamming it behind him.

Stella sat on the bed for a moment, reveling in her rare victory. She was indeed very glad that Frank had done some work on their GPS, for although she had spent torturous hours out in the rain and cold with none other than Horatio Stark for a partner, she had been rewarded. She could picture it all as clearly as if it were yesterday. The moment she had walked into the cabin, Frank, who had apparently been waiting nervously, rushed forward and took her coat for her. He ushered her into the bathroom, giving her the clothes that Hyperia had prepared for her, and then spent the next couple of hours sitting with her by the fire. Apparently he was making sure that she didn't have hypothermia.

With a sad smile and fresh tears leaking out of her eyes, Stella reached underneath the mattress to resume reading Frank's letters.


	19. Sad Men

"We have control," Tom declared, leaning back in his seat as he watched the students, Frank, Mrs King and Mr Flatley begin to destroy the Scraper billboards.

Hamish smiled, clapping him on the shoulder. Aneisha leaned down and hugged him in relief.

"You never cease to amaze me," Aneisha said, earning her Tom's biggest smile.

"Good work, Tom," Hamish said, walking towards the lift. "I'll go give Frank his dustpan and brush. It'll give me a chance to fill him in."

As Hamish disappeared into the lift, Tom watched Aneisha's expression change from relieved and jubilant to nostalgic and sad. She was looking down at her hands, which lay in her lap.

"What's up?" Tom asked.

Aneisha looked up, slightly surprised. Tom was usually the least perceptive of the whole team, completely oblivious to body language and facial expressions. Apparently programming made more sense to him. He hadn't even realised that Frank and Stella still had feelings for each other before Aneisha told him.

"It's just working with Hamish," Aneisha said with a sigh, looking up to meet Tom's eyes. "It doesn't feel right. We should be working with Stella."

"We all miss Stella, Neish," said Tom. "Especially Frank, of course. But if she's really innocent like you keep saying, she'll get out eventually."

"I know," Aneisha agreed, her eyes beginning to water a little. "But it's like we're believing in some supernatural sense of justice. But what if it doesn't work like that? What if we have to seek justice because there's no divine superpower that's going to do it for us?"

Tom laughed a little, not at all cruelly, but simple at the irony in Aneisha's statement. "You know, you're usually the one to tell me there's more to life than science and facts. And now you're questioning my belief in a supernatural sense of justice."

Aneisha smiled, just as Tom reached forward to brush away the tears that had spilled from Aneisha's eyes, his fingers gently brushing across her cheeks.

"Everything'll be fine, Neish," Tom promised. For once he had no logic on which to base his statement, a fact that scared him a little. Tom resolved to keep his promise in whatever way he could.

"Thanks, Tom," Aneisha said, reaching forward to throw her arms around Tom again. Tom returned the hug, squeezing her reassuringly.

"Come on," he said, grabbing Aneisha's hand and heading towards the lift. "Dan and Keri will be back soon. We should meet them before they get dragged into cleaning up some of those billboards. Come to think of it, I'm kind of want to check out the destruction for myself. Just think, Mrs King, _your auntie_, was involved in creating that chaos."


	20. The Problem Probe

"Do not ask him about 'Woo'," Tom warned, just as Frank was about to step into the office for his "heart-to-heart".

Frank looked at him for a moment, confused, before sending away his team to check out the abandoned hospital. With a barely suppressed sigh, Frank allowed himself to be ushered into the office.

He sat on the chair, fiddling his thumbs uncomfortably. Mr Flatley and Mrs King was talking to each other, trying but failing to keep their voices low.

"Mr Flatley, this is a waste of time. Frank could not have written the letter..."

"Mrs King, this is about having a heart-to-heart with all members of the school community," Mr Flatley said firmly. He then turned to Frank, "Now, Frank, here's your chance to talk to us about anything."

"Well, Mr F, there is something," Frank began, then paused to make sure he wouldn't be blowing his cover over this ridiculous heart to heart. "There's this girl I went out with a long time, and I was going to ask her out again, but now I've kind of been denied access."

"Ahh, relationship issues," Mr Flatley said, tapping the side of his nose. "I know art you need. The art of 'Woo'".

Frank frowned. So this was what Tom was on about. But before Frank could protest, Mr Flatley said, "Well, I cannot help you much if I know nothing of this mysterious woman. Tell us about her first."

Mrs King groaned, and resorted to reading through the names on her clipboard, completely oblivious to the rest of the conversation.

"Well, where so I start?" Frank began to think about Stella, and had to concentrate thrice as hard as usual to maintain his accent and caretaker persona. "She's incredibly talented and really good at her job, but she takes on too much responsibility and blames everything on herself."

"A perfectionist. I see." Mr Flatley appeared to be taking notes. Frank made a mental note to get those notes destroyed at first opportunity.

"She seems strict on the outside," Frank continued. "But she just really cares for the people around her and doesn't want anyone to get hurt."

"Let me guess," Mr Flatley said eagerly. "When people get hurt, she blames it on herself."

Frank nodded, slightly perturbed by Mr Flatley's accurate guess. "She's great in emergency situations. She never panics and always stays calm even under a lot of pressure. She's always had a great sense of right and wrong, at least as far as I could tell. She writes beautiful letters. When she's upset about something, she shuts out the rest of the world and buries herself in work. There's been quite a few tragic losses in her life, you see. Sometimes I used to be able to comfort her."

Mr Flatley continued to scribble down notes. Frank would really have to destroy them later. Currently, his concentration was divided between thinking about Stella and maintaining his cover. For some reason, the latter was harder than ever, even though normally he would slip into his caretaker persona without a second thought.

"She always puts others before herself," Frank continued. "If she has to, she'll be working late even if she's exhausted and hasn't eaten since breakfast. She deals with a lot of PR issues at work and she's incredibly patient."

Hopefully Stella was sounding like a senior PR manager in some large corporate firm. A firm that definitely was not in charge of national security.

"I suppose you see her like a superhero sometimes?" Mr Flatley prompted. "You imagine her saving the world every other day?"

"I don't need to imagine, Mr F," Frank answered, then caught himself when he saw confusion etched across Mr Flatley's face. "That is, she saves _my_ world every other day. She's a star."

Frank let his eyes go dreamy as he stared at the ceiling. Hopefully it would help with maintaining his cover and give him a chance to catch up with his thoughts. This was ridiculous. Stella was locked up in a secure MI9 prison and she was still the most distracting topic that Frank could come up with.

"Well, Frank, it looks like you need a dose of 'Woo'. One more question: what do you mean by having been denied access to this 'star' of yours?" Mr Flatley seemed rather excited at the prospect of giving another lecture on his new martial art.

"It's complicated," Frank said slowly, searching for a way to avoid mentioning that Stella had been arrested for betraying the country. "It's like...a long distance relationship, or it would be if I'd managed to ask her out. We've sort of resorted to writing letters."

"I see," said Mr Flatley. "Well, let me teach you about the art of 'Woo'. You see, it's all about - "

A storm of teenagers chose that moment to invade the office, effectively cutting off Mr Flatley's sentence. Frank breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mr Flatley!" said Preston. "There are people here! They're checking for apostrophe misuse! They've confiscated our school books!"

"Does that mean we don't have to work no more?" Roland asked.

As the headmaster and deputy headmistress struggled to deal with the excited, angry and befuddled students, Frank slipped away quietly, unnoticed. He'd catch up on the situation with Mandy, then once it had all blown over, he'd find a moment alone to read Stella's letters again.


	21. The Problem Probe (II)

"I don't believe it."

Dan had repeated those four words countless times in the past half hour or so. He and Keri were sitting on the edge of one of the school gardens, having just been dismissed by Hamish.

"Dan, I'm sorry," said Keri. "But let's face it, it's true. We don't really have much choice but to believe it."

Dan sighed, looking at Keri with his typical annoyed look. "It was a figure of speech," he said, as if pointing out the obvious. "But just think - we've saved countless lives! He can't just shut us down!"

"Apparently he can," Keri answered.

Dan stood up, taking a deep breath. With an air of forced patience, Dan said very slowly to Keri. "You can be so annoying, you know that? Yes, you're a great agent, but you can be so annoying!"

"Dan," Keri's voice was soft now, not at all confident and teasing as usual. "I know you're upset, but you've got to calm down."

Admitting defeat, Dan sat down again, his left hand immediately reaching into the garden, pulling out some grass to tear up.

"Dan, I need to ask you something," Keri's voice was still soft and timid.

Dan immediately looked up from his grass-tearing, seeing worry and hurt in Keri's eyes. He wanted to hit himself for being so self-centred, for not realising that Keri had lost so much more than he had. Dan had lost his job, but Keri had lost the best part of her life altogether.

"Go on," Dan said encouragingly, slightly taken aback when he saw that Keri's eyes were glistening with tears. Keri never cried, not even when she was nearly killed in the Shadow Games.

"Now that the MI High project is down, I've lost my foster home. They'll send me to an orphanage if I ask them to look after me."

"They can't do that!" Dan's anger bubbled up again. "KORPS will be onto you faster than you can blink. And you don't even have the lashes anymore so blinking doesn't help anyway!"

"So I was thinking," Keri said, brushing away her tears. "MI9's in a massive state of disorganisation ever since Stella got arrested. If I can slip under the radar, maybe they won't notice that I'm supposed to be sent to an orphanage."

Dan nodded. Keri always had great ideas.

"I need somewhere to stay, and it can't be Aneisha's because Mrs King would pick up on it and start prying, and Tom needs his privacy to be gaming, so I thought, maybe..."

"You can stay with me, Keri," Dan said confidently. "My parents will be fine with it. Service to the country and everything."

"Thanks, Dan." Keri gave him a grateful smile, and threw her arms around his neck. Dan returned the hug, smiling as well. He may have lost his job, but he would never lose his friends.

...

Aneisha and Tom were sitting on a bench in a corner of the school playground.

"I can't believe it," Tom said, looking at the empty screen of his game console. "Although I suppose Hamish didn't have a choice."

"I can't believe it either," Aneisha agreed. "Stella would never have shut us down. She would have fought for us."

"Neish?" Tom turned to look at her, only to see that Aneisha was looking down at her hands, which were clasped in her lap. But she looked up at his voice and met his eyes.

"You wrote to Mandy about self-confidence? You were amazing today! Out of all of us, you definitely don't deserve this!" Now that Tom thought about it, Aneisha had saved everyone. And yet she had been dismissed along with the rest of them. It was so unfair.

"Tom, forget it, it's over." Aneisha went back to staring at her hands.

"But you wrote to her?" Tom persisted. "Why shouldn't you be self-confident? You work for MI9! You're brilliant!"

" I _worked_ for MI9, Tom," Aneisha corrected him without looking up, her voice thick with a bitterness she had never felt before.

"And you were dismissed without justice," Tom said firmly. After a few moments for silence, he reached over and gently cupped Aneisha's chin, turning her head to face him. "Listen, you've been a brilliant agent, but more importantly, you're a great friend. Don't you forget it."

Simultaneously, the two ex-agents leaned forward and embraced each other.

"Thanks, Tom," Aneisha said into his shoulder. "You're a great friend too."

...

Frank had been instructed to immediately take what he needed from the base and move everything to his new office at MI9 HQ. He had signed a pre-written letter of resignation to Mr Flatley and waved goodbye to his caretaker's tools. With a sigh, he welcomed himself to the daily grind of paperwork from 9 to 5 at headquarters.

As he unpacked his things, Frank paused when he came across his prized photograph. The framed image portrayed Dan, Keri, Aneisha, Tom, Stella and himself, standing around the round table with Flopsy in the centre. They looked at the camera, smiling, confident and proud in their uniforms. Gone were those days of old.

Hamish had already been in with a gesture of sympathy and a stack of paperwork, which apparently contradicted each other, but that was life at MI9.

Collapsing into his new chair with another sigh, Frank tiredly reached up for the first form. He'd do ten forms, he told himself, then reread one of Stella's letters, then go back to paperwork. ...

Stark had been annoying smug about the news that MI High had been shut down. Hands rolled up into fists, Stella had to dig her fingers into her palm to prevent herself from throwing her food tray into Stark's face.

Once Stark had left, she collapsed on her bed, curling up on her side. The agents would be devastated. They were so young and so talented, with so much potential. How could Hamish crush them like that?

Aneisha was never a confident girl and MI9 had taught her to believe in herself. How was she coping now?

Tom had been hacking into the Mars rovers before MI9 recruited him and gave him an outlet for his skills. What would he hack into now? What trouble would he cause?

Dan was so close to joining the Runners, and would have joined in with Sky's free running unit if he were not a part of the MI High team. Would he end up as an illegal vigilante? He had so much energy and so much talent. Where would that go to now?

As for Keri, MI High had been everything for her. Where would she stay? KORPS was still after her. Was she even safe, at this very moment?

And Frank. Already distraught over the young agents, just thinking of Frank brought a sting of sympathy Stella's eyes. His team meant everything to him. Frank had an active mind and a compassionate heart. He had always had a passionate loathing for paperwork. 9 to 5 at MI9 gave no room to even visit the team. He would be all alone in a harsh working environment and separated from those he considered to be family.

And now, sparing a thought for herself, Stella realised that this meant that Frank was the only one in MI9 who believed in her innocence. As such, she would be here for an awfully long time. While Stella had discovered that being imprisoned meant that she was free of the paperwork and politics of HQ, it was so painfully lonely, and she longed to see her friends again, especially Frank

With no one watching, and no one to make judgement, Stella began to cry in earnest, smothering the sound of her sobs with her pillow. She didn't know how long she lay there, letting tears of pain, grief and worry soak into the poor-quality pillow. Eventually, she fell into a fitful sleep.

Her dinner lay on the table, forgotten, untouched and rapidly becoming cold.


	22. We Need to Talk About Kortex

"Believe me."

Frank did as she asked, looking her in the eye and seeing in them a depth of emotion. Over a decade of shared experience connected them in a way that even Tom wouldn't be able to explain with his science, and for once, Frank trusted his heart and _knew_ that Stella was innocent. Subsequently, he was suddenly overcome by empathy, feeling the pain that Stella must have undergone to be so wrongly suspected by even her closest friends.

"I do. I believe you."

Frank spread his arms, and Stella walked into them, letting Frank hold her tightly for as long as they dared before the urgency of the situation descended upon them. Nevertheless, Keri and Dan, instinctively trusting Frank's judgement, took turns to hug her briefly as well, whispering hurried apologies for their suspicion, apologies that were quickly waved away.

Breaking out Edward along with them was easy with Tom's help. Once again, the team marveled at his ability to hack into the MI9's high security prison with casual ease. However, crawling along the ventilation ducts was another matter altogether. After a month of limited exercise, Stella found herself cramping up from the action of endless crawling and desperate to get out and stretch. She therefore had an excellent excuse for the way she felt constantly close to tears. It was, of course, due to the pain in her muscles, and not the fact that Frank believed her and risked everything to get her out.

"We're nearly there," Frank said softly, as if he knew Stella was in pain. "By the way, I always knew you were innocent. I just needed facts, and there weren't any."

"I know," Stella said. "You had no reason to believe me and yet you did. Thank you."

"No problem," Frank replied, then lowered his voice so that Dan, Keri and Edward couldn't hear. "And I must say, I loved your letters. I hate to admit it, but they made me cry."

"I could say the same about yours," Stella said, keeping her voice just as soft. It was good to be in Frank's company again. Stella felt her eyes sting slightly, then quickly focused her thoughts on the task at hand. "I'll take Edward to the safe house," she said as they rounded a corner.

Frank nodded as best as he could whilst crawling through a cramped space, ignoring Edward's rather loud "Are you sure?". "Dan, Keri and I will meet up with Tom and Aneisha. You have your phone from the safe we broke into?"

"Yes," Stella said. "We can keep in touch."

"Agreed."

They had finally reached the exit, and Frank clambered out first, then reached up to help Stella out of the duct, catching her when she lost her balance.

"Thanks," said Stella as she regained her feet.

Frank and Stella both reached up to help Edward out of the building. Dan exited the duct with an athletic jump, then turned to help Keri.

Neither Frank nor Stella was at all eager to part ways, but they had no choice. They embraced briefly, muttering orders to "stay safe" in one another's ear, and they parted without another word.

* * *

Frank, Keri and Dan had met Tom at a bus stop near the school. They now awaited Aneisha, who was heading their way from the press conference.

The atmosphere was tense. Aneisha had lost communications a while back, and then came back online, providing an extremely brief version of what had happened. Tom was worried, because Aneisha sounded breathless, as if on the run away from someone. They had not heard from her since.

Keri and Dan were sitting side by side on the bench, while Frank was on the phone with Stella a few metres away. Tom had been pacing back and forth, a permanent frown etched on his face.

It was Keri who saw her first. Aneisha was rounding the corner, and Keri happened to be looking in that direction. She stood up, and ran up to hug her friend.

"You're all right," they both said at the same time, sounding relieved.

Dan had caught up with Keri, and shared a brief hug with Aneisha too, but then Tom arrived and Aneisha threw herself at him so suddenly that he nearly fell over.

"I'm so glad you're safe," Aneisha said.

"I'm safe?" Tom said incredulously. "You're the one who managed to get yourself kidnapped!"

Tom had been more worried than he cared to admit. Stay safe. He had told Aneisha to stay safe. And what had she gotten herself into? Kidnapped by Mike Stern and Crime Minister while Tom was busy hacking into MI9 security to get everyone else out safely.

Lucky Aneisha had brilliant lock-picking skills. Otherwise...Tom didn't want to think about it.

Frank was the last to arrive at the mini-reunion, pocketing his phone as he reached forward to embrace Aneisha, equally relieved that she had escaped the Crime Minister without harm. Unfortunately, as their leader, Frank also had to break up the moment and order them to head over to the school as quickly as possible to collect their things.


	23. The Last Stand

Having warned News Global of Evelyn Baxter's true identity, Stella withdrew into one of the empty studios to watch the news report, hopeful that the whole Kortex disaster would soon be over. However, years and years of bitter disappointment had taught her to control that hope, a skill that proved very useful in the coming minutes.

Stella, of course, still tasted the flavour of guilt when she realised KORPS had taken over the media as well. She had raised the team's hopes only to have them dashed to pieces. And while Frank had learn to hold back hope to avoid disappointment, the rest of the team were just children, and Stella knew exactly the how they felt.

A buzz in her pocket indicated a new text message. It could not be anyone other than Frank, so Stella pulled out her phone and read it immediately.

_Don't even think about blaming yourself. Meet us at the entrance to the lab ASAP. -F_

Shaking her head in disbelief, Stella wondered whether her emotions were so easy to predict that Frank always knew exactly what she was thinking. Then she pocketed her phone and made her way towards the school.

* * *

Frank and the others were already there when Stella turned up, breathless from running from the bus stop. They turned to greet her when she came, bearing smiles of relief.

Stella opened her mouth to speak as she came up to them, but Frank had stepped forward and quickly placed a finger on her lips.

"We've talked it through while waiting for you," Frank said. "And we've decided that if you even think of apologising for the News Global incident, which was not your fault in the least, Tom, Keri, Dan, Aneisha and I will spend ten minutes each talking to you about gaming, fashion, parkour, Tom and yourself respectively."

Stella stared at him for a moment, looking confused and slightly amused at the same time.

"What he means," Dan said, "is that Tom will lecture you on gaming, Keri will talk at you about fashion, I get to explain parkour, and you get to listen to Aneisha talk about Tom and Frank talk about you."

"Or," Keri put in, "you could just admit that the KORPS controlling the media is not your fault and get on with defeating them."

More than slightly taken aback, Stella nodded meekly. "Let's go with that option," Stella said to Keri.

"Right then," Frank said abruptly. "We need to get into the base. Tom has a way to find the Heart."

Frank grabbed Stella's hand as they all headed towards the hatch. While Tom, Aneisha and Dan brushed away the dirt that covered the hatch, Frank whispered again to Stella, "How many times have I told you not to blame yourself and you never listen?"

Stella simply smiled and squeezed his hand gratefully. Frank turned and looked into Stella's eyes, seeing a mixture of relief, peace and determination. KORPS would not be easy to take down, and both of them were nervous of what losses they might incur.

They continued to hold hands, neither willing to let go of the other.


	24. The Last Stand (II) and Conclusion

Frank waited anxiously outside the school, watching the doors from behind the tree. As far as he could tell, Stella had taken out the droids successfully as planned, but now, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Frank."

Spinning around quickly, Frank found Stella's head sticking out of the hatch that led down to the lab. In the space of seconds, he was reaching out to help her climb out, pulling her close to him as he closed his eyes in relief.

'You're okay!" they both said at the same time, thoroughly relieved.

Frank leaned back slightly and held Stella's shoulders at arm's length, looking at her carefully. "I was so worried," he said. "When you didn't meet me out here I thought something had happened to you."

"I had to take the long way round," Stella explained. "The kids' stampede got between me and the door."

Frank laughed, wrapping his arms around Stella once more and holding on to her, tightly wishing they could remain like this forever. Unbeknownst to him, Stella was thinking the same thing.

There was a flurry of motion as Mr Flatley and Mrs King reached the front doors and threw Hamish out, dusting their hands in satisfaction. Frank and Stella drew apart slightly to watch, amused smiles appearing on their faces.

"Have you got anything to say to Hamish?" Frank asked, his arm resting around Stella's shoulders. "Before I lose my temper at him and throw him into a river or something?"

Stella swallowed resolutely as she nodded. Together, they walked towards the pathetic figure on the ground to claim their victory.

* * *

Tom, Keri and Dan met Aneisha outside 10 Downing Street. Aneisha had been busy with the media, but when she saw them tiredly walking into the room, she pushed aside journalist after journalist to run towards them.

The girls shared a hug first, thoroughly relieved at each other's continued survival, then they broke apart and Aneisha briefly examined Dan's injury, admonishing him for trying to take on Keri. Throughout all this, Tom stood and scanned his eyes over Aneisha carefully, satisfied that she seemed uninjured.

Then, as if in slow motion, Aneisha stood up and looked straight at Tom, her face breaking out into a huge smile as she took two steps forward and threw her arms around Tom, who responded just as enthusiastically.

Aneisha suddenly drew back from the hug to start lecturing Tom. "I can't believe you didn't wait for us! I was so worried! I had no idea what was going on and - "

"Well," Tom cut her off. "Couldn't leave Dan to do all the hero work, could I?"

He glanced back at Dan, who nodded meaningfully to Aneisha.

"I'm glad you're okay too," said Tom, reaching forward to embrace Aneisha again.

* * *

Between assuring Aneisha, Frank and Stella that they were both fine, Keri and Dan didn't have a chance to talk to each other properly until they reached Dan's home that evening. Stella was working overtime to put MI9 back together at the moment, and despite Frank's help, hadn't yet managed to restore everything to its former state. Therefore Keri hadn't yet been provided with a new foster home and was still staying with Dan.

"You know," Keri said, sitting cross-legged on her bed. "It was really dangerous of you to go against orders."

"But you're glad I did," Dan replied, sitting beside her, his legs dangling off the edge of the bed.

"Yes," Keri admitted. "Thank you. Are you sure you're all right? I'm really sorry - "

"Now you're sounding like Stella," Dan said, sounding exasperated. "That was the Mastermind, not you. And I'm fine. I can handle a little hand-to-hand combat."

Keri smiled in spite of herself. "How long do you think it'll take Stella to arrange another foster home for me?"

"A long time, by the looks of it," Dan replied. "She's got her work cut out for her, trying to get MI9 back into shape. And Frank's going to be making sure she actually eats and sleeps, so a foster home could take a while. Why, don't you like it here?"

"That's the point," said Keri. "I'm happier staying here with you."

Dan smiled, and Keri got up to hug him gently, being sure to avoid his many injuries. Dan's smile grew wider as he felt Keri's arms wrap around him. He could get used to this.

* * *

The door to Stella's office was pushed open and without looking up, Stella knew who it was.

"I'll get some sleep soon, Frank," she said, her eyes still fixed on the paperwork in front of her. "Just let me sort this out."

"Stella, you've said that about fifty times in the last hour," Frank said as he came up and placed a warm cup of tea on Stella's desk. "Drop the pen for now. Rome wasn't built in a day, and nor will MI9 be rebuilt in an evening."

With a sigh, Stella reached for the tea that Frank had made for her, and leaned back in her chair. Glancing up at the clock, she saw that it was two o'clock in the morning.

"Frank, it's two in the morning," Stella said, sounding surprised. "How come you're still here?"

Frank gave her a withering look, but could not completely hide his smile of amusement. How typical of Stella. "Well, you're still here, aren't you?"

"That's not the point," Stella protested. "I've got this stack to get through." She gestured at the mountain of paperwork that lay in her in-tray.

"Well," Frank countered. "I'm trying to make sure you don't kill yourself doing it. Get some rest."

"I will. Soon."

Cursing inwardly at Stella's stubbornness, Frank decided to change the subject. "Now that we've all been reinstated, Keri gets a new foster home, doesn't she?"

Stella nodded, fighting the impulse to let her eyelids drop. "She does. When I get to it. Remind me."

"Actually, I was hoping to just leave her at Dan's for the time being. Everyone's happy this way."

Stella nodded again, taking a sip of tea and hoping it would keep her awake. "I have to say I agree with you. Let's do things that way."

"Tom and Aneisha are already working on gathering intel on the remnants of KORPS. They think Clavicle and Humerus are still operational." By now, Frank could tell that Stella was falling asleep, so he kept talking. "They're working really well together, actually. You know, once they leave M.I. High, we could get them running something together. I don't know. How do you combine disguises with computer skills?"

Frank paused, waiting for a response. Satisfied that Stella was now asleep in her chair, he pulled the empty cup from her hands and carefully placed it on the table. He then spun Stella's chair slightly to make it easier for him to lift her up, carrying her out of the office and into the next room, where he had pumped up an air mattress.

"Sleep tight, my star," he whispered as he lay a blanket over Stella's sleeping form. "MI9 will rise again. You and I. We'll build it up together."


	25. Epilogue

Frank was nervous. It wasn't an official mission, or even a particularly dangerous one. He wouldn't be assessed on his performance for the purposes of promotion or suspension. More importantly, he'd be in Stella's company, and since the last victory over KORPS, he and Stella had run MI9 so efficiently that everyone swore they could read each other's minds.

But this mission was possible the most important mission that Frank had ever taken on. He'd been working up the courage for months to do this, and there was no way he would give in to fear now.

It was the waiting part that was the worst. Frank was fairly sure that the mission would be a huge success, but at the same time, the uncertainty and the possibility of failure plagued his mind.

Stella came out of her office and smiled at him, looking amused that he'd actually worn a tuxedo. They'd be undercover tonight as a couple on a date, and Frank had to admit that it would indeed be like a date. But this was so much more than an ordinary date.

Stella wore in a long, deep blue dress and she'd curled her hair for the occasion. Around her neck was her favourite necklace: a simple shooting star and a gift from Frank. She slipped her hand into Frank's and they set off for the target restaurant.

The meal was delicious, but Frank was rather distracted by the mission at hand, and Stella's stunning appearance did not help his focus. Stella, on the other hand, was completely composed and the "date" went as perfectly as it could go.

The real part of the mission was after dinner, and the target location was the dimly lit path near the river. Hand in hand, Frank and Stella took to a stroll along the path, basking in the moonlight and listening to the lyrical rush of the water in the river.

As the reached the crest of a hill, Frank knew that this was the climax of the mission. This particular location had been specifically chosen by Frank. The moonlight reflected off the river to create patterns of light on the path, and the area was sufficient bright for the mission requirements.

Frank had been nervous up until this point, but now felt a sense of calm as he engaged his mind for the task at hand. He removed the gadget from his pocket, a small black box, and, turning to face Stella, dropped onto one knee.

Stella's hands flew to her mouth in surprise and delight as Frank opened the box to reveal a sapphire ring that glistened in the moonlight. The edges of the gem had been carefully cut to resemble a many-pointed star.

Tears sprung to Stella's eyes as Frank spoke his well-rehearsed lines. "Stella, I love you and I always will. Will you marry me?"

"Yes."

Frank stood up as Stella threw herself into his arms. He held her tightly to his chest and could feel her tears of happiness soak his shirt. As Frank slowly registered Stella's response and began to glow with joy, his eyes began to sting with tears as well.

Eventually, Stella pulled back and allowed Frank to place the ring onto her left hand, sliding it up her finger where it rested snugly in its new home.

Stella looked up at Frank, tears glistening in her eyes. "I love you too," she said. "Always will."

As their lips met, a billion memories washed across them both. They recalled their first meeting as young agents, and the shy glances leading up to the first date. They thought of the missions they worked on together and they regularly risked their lives for each other. Then there was the KORPS assault, the pain and the nightmares, and the years of separation, pretending that they didn't need each other. Most of all, they remembered the recent years as they reignited the spark between them, defeated KORPS and rebuilt MI9 together in love and trust.

They separated from the kiss, gasping for breath, jubilant smiles on their faces. The future had never looked so beautiful.

_Overall, a successful mission_, Frank thought, _now for the follow-up mission: planning a wedding._


End file.
